Guest Blog by Kaitlin Miller

Yesterday, I attended the 2^nd annual NY Tech Day, the world’s largest startup event. The event is comprised of entrepreneurs exhibiting their startups to thousands of consumers, investors, first adopters, job-seekers, major companies, press and media. The booth activations for most all of the companies had very minimal company signage, no giveaways (other than food and candy) and in order to comprehend the company you had to talk to the founders.

While I was not impressed by most and wondered who would be around next year, one company stood out above the rest.  UBER, who market’s themself as Everyone’s Private Driver, had brand ambassadors who knew the company, signage describing the company and – best of all – they were giving away $20 gift cards towards your first UBER ride.

Although I had heard of UBER before NY Teach Day, after seeing them yesterday I actually decided to use the service for the first time last night. Maybe it was because I had my $20 gift card, but I am convinced I used them because I now trusted UBER and actually believed I was getting a private/profession driver to take to dinner (which I did).

The UBER app shows you the closet available driver (typically between 5-9 minutes from your pick-up location). You set pick up location and in a pre-set amount of time a black car will show up and take you to your destination.  Not only can you track your driver’s location, but you will even get a text when you driver is outside so you do not have to stand on the side of the street.

Using UBER was much faster and way more convenient than a cab and the driver I had was super professional. Although you do pay a premium to use UBER’s service (it cost me $18 to go from Herald Square to the Ainsworth on Park) when there are no yellow taxis in site it is very useful.

After coming home from work yesterday, I did what I do every night: check my Facebook newsfeed to see what all my “friends” were up to.  Among the normal status updates about upcoming shows, ridiculous work hours, and the plethora of complaints my generation makes, something very interesting caught my eye: a link to a new Internet Explorer ad on YouTube.  The ad’s screen shot had the game “Hungry Hungry Hippos” along with the caption: “You Grew up.  So Did We.”  I couldn’t resist.

Before explaining this ad, I think it’s very important to mention that I absolutely abhor Internet Explorer.  It freezes inexplicably, messes with website layouts and is generally less reliable than my browser of choice, Google Chrome.  Internet Explorer is to browsers as New Jersey Transit is to mass transportation.  It’ll kind of work, eventually.

So, you can imagine my surprise when Internet Explorer decided to connect with me, personally, by helping me remember my childhood.  In their new ad, IE reminded us that they were around for generation Y’s most iconic trends: yo-yos, floppy discs, Oregon Trail, Lunchables, fanny packs, wallet chains and tomogatchis.  Besides reminding me of my childhood in the early 90s, this ad was trying to tell people my age that IE grew up with us.  As we learned new things, so did they.  And, now they want us to come back.

The thing is, I really don’t care that Internet Explorer remembers the days when boys sported bowl cuts and girls cared for electronic pets.  Those days are long gone, and remembering them does nothing.  Sure, those days were simpler because we didn’t have deadlines or relationship drama- but that’s because we were young.

I love this ad.  It’s cool to see how far pop culture has come in the past twenty years.  But, why did it take IE this long to realize they needed to change their reputation?  This ad is too little too late.  Yes, yo-yos WERE amazing, but that doesn’t make me switch browsers from Google Chrome to Internet Explorer.

As a 24-year-old single girl living in Hoboken, I totally understand the whole Super Bowl phenomenon from both a social and marketing perspective.  Friends get together to eat ridiculously unhealthy food and drink copious amounts of alcohol while advertisers spend the bulk of their yearly budgets on 30 second commercials- all under the pretense of watching a football game.

What I don’t get is WHY some girls pretend to understand and like this sport.  To me, it’s nothing but a brutally boring and time consuming activity that I’d rather not waste my time on.  The ONLY reason I’d even consider watching a game is to A) socialize with friends and B) mock the new ridiculously expensive ads.

My problem is that the vast majority of these ads really do appeal to me.  I love that someone’s hunger makes them complain like Betty White.  I like watching Britney Spears sing in a gladiator’s arena for Pepsi.  But, what does football have to do with that?  I can watch these commercials on YouTube without suffering through the endless game!

So, I’m forced to ask the question: Do we really need the Super Bowl, or any other football games for that matter, to be on in order to feel it’s acceptable to drink all day and eat crappy food?  Not this year!

This year, I’ve decided to stage a Super Bowl protest.  Instead of hanging out with friends and pretending that I enjoy watching jacked-up men run around for no apparent reason, I’ve decided to dedicate my day to reading and working out.  It’s not that I’m anti-social, I just hate PRETENDING that I’m enjoying myself when I’m not.  If I’d rather be reading Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina in bed with a nice fresh beet kale salad than eating buffalo wings and drinking cheap beer, isn’t that my prerogative?

In years past, my friends have called me a loser and a homebody for not wanting to participate in such activities.  But, at the ripe old age of 24, I’ve decided that I no longer care what people think of my social behavior.  If I want to stay in bed on a Friday night and catch up on past episodes of Downton Abbey and Dance Moms, I’m going to do that.

So, to all you other fellow football-haters, what do you plan to do this Super Bowl Sunday?  Don’t succumb to peer pressure!  Try picking up an old classic (or a guilty pleasure read, if that’s more up your alley) and dedicate the day to engaging your mind rather than your stomach.